The Managerial Revolution: What is Happening in the World

I am blown away by this book. The logic is solid and well laid out. (Orwell mimics this book in 1984 as the Goldstein text.) The Managerial Revolution was written in 1941; Orwell’s 1984 was written in 1948. Orwell, an opponent of hierarchies in general, reviewed it negatively when it came out but was obviously deeply affected by it.

Burnham makes the argument that society has evolved, inevitably, and naturally, from feudalism to capitalism, and is now heading forward into “managerialism” (not his phrasing) a process that began with WWI. This all happened despite the adamant (and “logical”) predictions for socialism. Russia’s government, for example, proved that socialism is not the inevitable step forward for societies show more evolving away from capitalism - Russia quickly became a heavily managed economy, and stayed there. American society also became much more “managerial” with the New Deal, and could not function without its “institutions”. The American government is clearly the largest employer that has ever existed. Bureaucracies have become the de facto rulers.

As feudal lords and monarchs ceded control to the capitalists, capitalists will cede control to the managers, corporate or government.

Mind-blowing. Revolutionary. show less

This is an excellent book, overall. If you are a political scientist, then this must be on your shelf, and you must read it. He followed a path of strict realism when writing this book and, some may even say, he imbued the text with a small degree of cynicism. There is no woolly-headed philosophy in the book: just political science as he sees it.

I was not always clear about his definition of a manager. Does he refer to corporate managers or bureaucrats, or does he refer to the core team around political leaders? This is not always clear.